Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Profit in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels profit as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Profit

[F., fr. L. profectus advance, progress, profit, fr. profectum. See Proficient.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordprofit
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[F., fr. L. profectus advance, progress, profit, fr. profectum. See Proficient.]
Selected historical definitionAcquisition beyond expenditure; excess of value received for producing, keeping, or selling, over cost; hence, pecuniary gain in any transaction or occupation; emolument; as, a profit on the sale of goods.
Signed record IDwebster1913-profit-noun-d2e55ad09833
Source locatorCIDE.P, paragraph 15396; Gutenberg eBook 666
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 666Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "profit" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[F., fr. L. profectus advance, progress, profit, fr. profectum. See Proficient.]" The selected historical definition says: "Acquisition beyond expenditure; excess of value received for producing, keeping, or selling, over cost; hence, pecuniary gain in any transaction or occupation; emolument; as, a profit on the sale of goods."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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[OE. pouer, poer, OF. poeir, pooir, F. pouvoir, n. & v., fr. LL. potere, for L. posse, potesse, to be able, to have power. See Possible, Potent, and cf. Posse comitatus.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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